


When In Doubt

by electr0phors



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Inner Shisui, sakura gets a kekkei genkai, the cutest child soldiers, these two are going to destroy many things, uchiha shisui's bad decions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2015-11-10
Packaged: 2018-05-01 01:05:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5186342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/electr0phors/pseuds/electr0phors
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Meet Haruno Sakura, average second generation ninja with an aptitude for chakra control and a desire to make friends with Uchiha Sasuke. Well, before he pushes her off a cliff. And before the ghost of his wacko cousin takes up residence in that one part of her brain. </p><p>Meet Haruno Sakura, who is well and truly screwed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When In Doubt

She liked Sasuke the best. In every ninjutsu class he was always the first to get it right. When Iruka was first walking them through Kage Bunshin, he put on his concentrating face and stood still, still when she was giggling with Ino over the hand sign over and over again. She would look back and he would be still and frowning, frowning over the little smile he got sometimes. He was still and still until she heard Iruka’s voice saying oh that’s good Sasuke-kun, keep it up, a very skilled way to access your chakra- and then she spun around to see him moving, but he was still again. So she did it again with Ino, who by that point could produce wisps in the air, shimmers and mirages that seemed so monumental in the light of her happy face.

But then, Sasuke got it- really got it, really made figures come out of nowhere. They were pale and shimmery, but a boy her very own age had made something out of nothing. Right then and there, Sakura decided to be friends with this boy. He knew things that she ached to know. Clan things, Ino had said, early training, daddies in the force. That moment, Sakura knew she would be one of them, one of the big men in the green vests and the heavy In Charge looks. If cute and friendly Sasuke could do it, with the big brother and the big clan, what was stopping her? She had Ino and her daddy and mama, gone on important missions all the time. What was stopping her? — Sasuke was the boy she liked best.

He had been sweet last year, rough and pushing and smiling and talking endlessly about a big brother he made out to be the next Hokage. He had protected her from Ami and her group, had bashfully looked on when she brought her mama’s healthy lunch into school (before asking her, red faced, for a tomato). He sparred in physical training like he loved it, like she was the biggest oponent in the year and it was like candy to fight. She liked not being treated like glass, not hearing the whispers of “first ten nin” that followed like flies around her assessments.

She even liked him after he came back. After all, he was a friend. It had been July, all sweaty and sticky and fish-in-the-river. He was there one morning, words tripping over themselves in a rush to describe the shrunken training he was going to do that very night. She persuaded Ino to bring her shuriken to class the next day, wanting to learn his new moves, only to realize that he was gone. Disappeared, and when she asked about him Iruka’s face turned into one of the men on the mountain, inconceivably old, and all she learned was that he would be back soon but maybe maybe little different so be gentle with him ok? Ok Sakura-chan n Ino-chan? Ino-chan scoffed when she worried, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and stridently talking about different kinds of reconnaissance, and how her papa told her she was made for intelligence, just like lazy Shika was a genius and chubby Chouji was the best friend she could ever ask for. Lowering her voice, Ino had confided that she lost faith in her Papa for a second there- if he was a big old Jounin, how could he not know that Sakura was her best friend forever? Resuming her big tone, bright like the sun off the top of Hokage Tower, Ino said that she knew just what to do.

And that was how Sakura found herself with an armful of stolen (“borrowed!”, ino had protested, with the look she used to maximize the roundedness of her still childish face) scrolls from the Yamanaka clan vault on how to do very low level concealment justus. Ino had said that one of those, combined with a few icepacks hidden in strategic places around her body, would confuse any kind of heat sensing traps, or hidden cameras kept around the locked room in the academy that everyone knew contained student files. All Sakura knew was that she just had to do something nice for the boy who had acknowledged her, even if it was just with a glance.

In her mind, the nicest thing would be a huge pot of the nicest sukiyaki and a few riceballs. Sakura was used to cooking for herself while her parents were out on missions, so she had confidence in her ability to put together something edible at least. But to deliver food to Sasuke, she needed to know where he lived. Also, it would be nice to know what had ahhpened, and why every other Uchiha kid had seemed to vanish too. There were 2 in the grades above her, and one, Suzuru, just starting the academy this year, and they were all gone. She thought that maybe some big illness was sweeping the Uchiha clan compound, which was why all of the police had been absent for a few days too. She had heard rumors- Iruka and Mizuki murmuring something, their mouths circling around the sounds of Uchiha, and then Terrible, and then about someone-

Sakura still wasn’t the best at reading lips- someone called Tachi- maybe Teuchi? And then, always, forming the word she was most concerned about- Sasuke seasick sasuke. The strangest word that kept coming up was massacre, which she figured was just their way of describing a particularly virulent kind of sickness, like the way her mother always groaned that her menstrual cramps were murdering her. There was no other alternative. The Uchiha were the only founding clan left in Konoha, and the strongest to boot. Sickness was really the only explanation. Anything else was just absurd. And anyway, Sakura had the highest academic average in the entire academy, so of course she would be able to figure things out logically. —- The bell on the door of the Yamanaka flower shop had barely started to ring when Ino called out “Sakura-chan! Whatcha doing here? Did you have any… success?“

She had paused midsentece to deliver an exaggerated wink. She always delighted at any form of secrecy and subterfuge, and a project that demanded both theft and ninjutsu left her nearly quivering with barely held in energy. Sakura had frozen just inside the door, keeping her head still as she scanned the area for anyone listening in. Iruka-sensei had just gone over the basics of chakra sensing during a unit on the history of Uzushiogakure, and it seemed like a wicked cool talent to have.

“I just need to open my senses to the flow of energy around me, and try to pinpoint where chakra, a combination of the two, seems to be most concentrated. Each living thing has chakra, but by virtue of intense training Shinobi develop reserves that are both larger and more sophisticated. Each individual’s chakra is uniquely configured, forming what is colloqially known as a chakra signa-“ “Earth to Sakura! Control requires update on mission status! As the Yamanaka head of the Interrogation forces, I’m gonna have to use Shintenshin no jutsu to figure out what’s going on in that cute forehead” Ino vaulted from behind the counter talking the entire time, her hands outstreched in the signature form of the Yamanaka clan justu, with the notable exception of the two forefingers reaching out and getting steadily closer to Sakura’s (big gross) forehead.

Sakura barely dodged Ino’s two index fingers, bending back while executing a sloppy sweeping kick that Ino neatly jumped over, before kicking out Sakura’s supporting leg and jumping on the other girl the minute she fell down, ready to wage war in the secret of of tickle no jutsu. Inoichi walked in to the sight of two shrieking girls engaged in brutal warfare on the floor of his shop, a sight notable only because it was so routine. They hadn’t noticed him, so he took the time to observe. Ion was more physical, with the grace afforded by clan conditioning allowing her to maneuver around Sakura like the tiny demon she was. Sakura, on the other hand, showed tactical thinking, pretending to be more overcome than she was in order to brutally attack Ino’s most ticklish spots with the efficiency of, well, someone who worked in Torture and Interrogation.

He also took note of the scrolls from the Yamanaka clan that Ino had lifted the other day. Her attempts at stealth had been acceptable, if a little textbook, and if the library hadn’t been under constant surveillance by a rotating squad of mind-reading ninja then his little hellion just might have gotten away with it. Sakura had attempted to camouflage them, using her reputation as an incorrigible bookworm to create jackets that read “Kiss me deadly: Famous Kunoichi and the Poisons They Loved” and “A Brief Treatise on the Introductory Theory behind the Manipulation of Physical and Spiritual Energy within the Human Body”. Of course, their specific chakra labels had them marked as scrolls containing two basic concealment genjutsu, and one on the regulation of body heat.

“Ne, Sakura-chan, you know that second technique requires very precise control” Leaving two girls sputtering, and a very pale Sakura, he whistled as he went to strip off the his grimy uniform. It had been a rough day at the office, and he was ready to cast off the olfactory genjustu that concealed the smell of blood. — Training had taken longer than usual with Ino, but Sakura was determined to deliver her package of home-made rice balls and dango if it killed her. And her mom did say that they were only good a day after being made so that was only one reason among many she had bid Ino good by hastily and started off running with a package of food in her hands.

She knew that the main road to the Uchiha compound looped around the outskirts of the city and around, almost like it was trying to shake off intruders. She didn’t have that time- she only trained for an hour but that meant less time for the rice to be fresh and delicious. So, she made what seemed at the time to be the most logical decision available. She took a shortcut. She knew for certain that the Nakano flowed right by the compound, and if she just followed the river east she’s get there easy peasy. Kenosha at that time still hosted large swathes of largely untouched forest, and by the time she stumbled upon the ravine where Uchiha Sasuke was practicing something she was largely out of breath. but there her target was, and so she did what her mother would have done in the same circumstances, with the same glee- she snuck up behind Sasuke and poked him sharply on the shoulder with the side of her goody-filled box. Then Uchiha Sasuke shouted, whirled around, and punched her over a ravine and into the river.

**Author's Note:**

> what a time, my second ever fix in 6 years. do let me know what you like and dislike, and buckle your seatbelt for a big gay extravaganza feat. sakura, shisui, and situations you never even knew were possible.


End file.
